There have been 36 movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I’m not doing the math—it’s Friday, sue me—but that totals out at a lot of hours. There have also been a handful of TV shows, more casting rumors than actors at this point and one or two (thousand) podcasts devoted to breaking it all down.
As a kid who used to run around playgrounds claiming that I was Spider-Man, I was 1000% invested in the Tobey Maguire movies (before the MCU became the MCU), sold immediately on Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man, and was a pretty dedicated fan of the first few phases of movies. Time takes down all of us, and by the end of the Infinity War Saga, I (like many, many others) was worn down by the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the cookie-cutter filmmaking and the multiversal direction that was making everything more and more complicated. I also got invested in a different type of movie, ones my family and friends would call “weird” and “off-putting” and “please don’t make us watch another one of these, Greg.”
I use “Marvel” a lot in this here newsletter as a shortcut to describe movies that exhaust me, but I’m still watching most of their content. Not the TV shows, though, even I can’t be bothered there. And I guess my question is: Why?
Part of it is being in the know, something I need at all times, as evidenced by my social-media dependence and dedication to following the trades. And I think the other part of it is a commitment to a product that once made me happy—and the hope that there’s still something left to say.
36 movies is a lot of movies, however, and the last few have been—how do I put this nicely?— ranging somewhere between dreck and the worst stuff I’ve ever seen.
Here are the last five movies, and here are my quick reviews up to Thunderbolts*:
Quantumania: Dreadful.
Guardians 3: Decent.
The Marvels: Skipped.
Deadpool & Wolverine: Almost ruined movies for me.
Brave New World: Jesus Christ.
Now that’s not a stellar batting average, which is what makes Thunderbolts* a real make-or-break film heading into Fantastic Four. And my official review here is: Hey, that was okay. I don’t mean to sound like an asshole, but it’s a real movie with actual set-pieces, a loaded lineup of solid actors and an actual idea. Low bar, but add in the fact that Ryan Reynolds isn’t in it, and that’s a win.
Florence Pugh is one of the best actors we have right now, so I’m not going to complain about seeing her take on some dangerous stunts on screen. Also, this movie gives her some genuine ideas to chew on, as her character battles a blasé worldview and genuine sadness after her sister’s death.
My question to myself, though, is, “Is this what it is now?” Like, is “okay” the best we’re getting from Marvel? I was going to say superheroes in general, but Robert Pattinson’s The Batman proves that there’s still some life to be sucked out of this genre.
Our theater (one annoying guy in particular) was pretty locked in, and then there’s a specific after-credits scene that had the theater buzzing, so I may just be the old fuddy-duddy that wants something more. Perhaps the problem is that the first Iron Man came out when I was 12, and it’s 17 years later now, and I’ve seen a lot of stuff in the (almost) two decades since.
There’s no real point to all of this other than me coming to grips with my own mortality and saying that Thunderbolts* is a pretty fun time and a better-than-usual part of a never-ending saga.
Recently, I’ve found myself having trouble diving into television, knowing that they’re ultimately going to elongate the shows as much as possible and that there may be years between seasons, leading to a drop in interest (at least for me). The first Stranger Things season came out between my junior and senior years of college, and now I’m almost 30. Emphasis on almost.
At a certain point, how can you reach the highs of something new and compelling? Especially with so much time in between. It takes a lot, and Stranger Things and Marvel can never have the urgency or excitement of something like the recent hit Sinners or even an adaptation/remake like Pride & Prejudice (2005), which I just saw for the first time.
You watch something like the new Ryan Coogler vampire/musical and you’re almost overwhelmed with the feeling that you’re experiencing something new. You watch something like the Joe Wright/Keira Knightley historical romantic drama, and you can almost tangibly feel the yearning and desire for something more leaping off-screen. You watch Thunderbolts* and you just feel like you’re trying to reach a high you once had. Or maybe that’s just me, and I’m losing my mind.
Anyway, that’s my official review for the new Marvel movie, which is … okay.
3/5, almost a thumbs up and one existential crisis.